Sally (Foster) Wallace (1938 - 2020)

Born 14 May 1938 in Fort Fairfield, Aroostook, Maine, United States

Ancestors

Died 22 Jul 2020 at age 82 in Tempe, Maricopa, Arizona, United States

Biography

Sally was born in 1938. She passed away in 2020.

Obituary

News-Gazette, The (Champaign-Urbana, IL)

"Sally Foster Wallace, 82, passed away peacefully and surrounded by love on July 22, 2020, at home in Tempe, Arizona.

She was born May 14, 1938, in Fort Fairfield, Maine. The daughter of a potato farmer, she worked a quarter of the year during the harvest, but found her true passion for learning in the town’s one-room schoolhouse. She eventually graduated from Northfield boarding school in Gill, Massachusetts and later became the first in her family to graduate college, with a bachelor’s degree in English from Mount Holyoke in 1960, where she was student body president and wrote Junior Show.

After receiving her master’s degree from the University of Illinois, Mrs. Wallace was an English professor at Parkland College for 35 years. Her passion for learning was paired with a passion to help others learn — she was an enthusiastic, rigorous and above all compassionate instructor who made sure every student she had knew how much their voice mattered. Even after retiring, she taught in correctional facilities around Illinois and volunteered as a companion for Illinois CASA. In 2012, she and her husband, Jim, decided to move from their beloved city of Urbana to Florence, Ariz., to be closer to their family. There, they volunteered with Arizona CASA, hosted family dinners every Sunday, and adopted a much-loved terrier mix named Angus.

Mrs. Wallace was predeceased by her husband of 59 years, James D. Wallace; son, David Foster Wallace; sister, Barbara Sealander and brother, Gerry Foster.

She is survived by her daughter, Amy Wallace-Havens; son-in-law, Kenneth Wallace; grandchildren, Lydia Havens and Max Wallace; daughter-in-law, Karen Green; sister-in-law, Elizabeth Foster; nieces, Penny Rand and April Foster; nephew, Michael Foster; as well as seven great-nieces and -nephews and five great-great-nieces and -nephews.

Sally is remembered as a wickedly funny, generous and compassionate woman who made friends everywhere she went. She had an unmatched love for the English language and inspired countless others — including her students, children and grandchildren — to pursue their passion of writing. She was fearless in every sense of the world, and in the final years of her life, tried many new things, such as zip-lining and attending monthly poetry slams.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a service is tentatively being planned for the summer of 2021 in Champaign-Urbana for both Sally and her husband, Jim, who passed away in July 2019.

Sally Foster Wallace will be missed for generations to come."

Sources

• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMS-991 : 5 January 2021), Sally J Foster in household of Fenton P Foster, Fort Fairfield, Aroostook, Maine, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 2-32B, sheet 6A, line 35, family 187, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1471.
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216672556/sally-wallace